Topic: Nintendo Cuts Wii U Sales Forecast

[Eiksirf]

I agree with Ceric. I personally think Nintendo is hurting simply because of image. They have good hardware and software, but they went all-in last gen on casual gamers who got tired of the Wii and abandoned them mid-way through its life cycle. A big portion of their core audience moved on last gen and with such good alternatives, they've stayed away.

There may not be a quick fix for Wii U, but they can lay the ground work toward building a successful console in the future, but it might mean doing some non-Nintendo-like things like publishing mature games and franchises alongside Mario, Zelda and Pokemon - and then marketing everything effectively, and to the right audiences.

In the meantime, find effective ways to market things like Super Smash Bros. U. Imagine they shelled out for a Super Bowl spot and let a marketing company design the ad? They could generate some buzz and start bringing gamers back immediately.

The shovelware for Wii changed their image, and they need to steer it back to what sells. They found a hot niche genre last gen that sold like crazy, but like those guitar controllers, it didn't end up being a longterm product.

[Adrock]

But it was apparent to us even before the system launched. Plenty of time for Nintendo to add a 3DS gameslot under the flap on the Wii U.

I'm baffled every time I see this suggested. If this was anyone's expectation, consider reevaluating reality. First, Nintendo either raises the price of Wii U (which some people already balked at) or they essentially give a 3DS away for free. Why would anyone think Nintendo would do that? Second, enabling this functionality is likely a lot more work for Nintendo than people think it is. I'm not exactly sure what the payoff is for Nintendo. They want to sell two systems, not hurt 3DS sales to increase Wii U sales.

Nintendo's problem is that they didn't do a good job of communicating the value of Wii U. While I thoroughly enjoy my Wii U, I can admit that. It serves my purposes as someone who doesn't play a lot of video games. For everyone else, it's unacceptably inadequate. Even if one could play 3DS games via Wii U, the Wii U part of the console would still be lacking. A console should be able to stand on its own merits, not on the shoulders of another. If Nintendo ever wanted to introduce a 3DS Player, I would understand that more though I'm still convinced 3DS games would be significantly worse played on a TV/GamePad combo.

[Eiksirf]

Here's something to think about: what impact is this piece of news going to have on the Wii U's future?  Now I don't expect the average Joe to even know about this but any hardcore gamer knows and is probably thinking that the Wii U has no future and that they shouldn't buy one.

That's me, actually. I haven't been buying new consoles since the Xbox 360 and Wii came through, so I'm cautious with my spending. My Wii just broke and I was faced with $85 to repair it and play the new game I got for Christmas, or $300 for a Wii U upgrade. I was on the fence and leaning toward Wii U until I read Iwata's latest about changing Nintendo's business model. That and the poor Wii U sales had me thinking Nintendo will abandon this console and I wouldn't get my money's worth like I have with the 360. I went with the $85 repair and probably won't be getting a Wii U at all now. This would be the only Nintendo console I've never purchased.

[BlackNMild2k1]

But it was apparent to us even before the system launched. Plenty of time for Nintendo to add a 3DS gameslot under the flap on the Wii U.

I'm baffled every time I see this suggested. If this was anyone's expectation, consider reevaluating reality. First, Nintendo either raises the price of Wii U (which some people already balked at) or they essentially give a 3DS away for free. Why would anyone think Nintendo would do that? Second, enabling this functionality is likely a lot more work for Nintendo than people think it is. I'm not exactly sure what the payoff is for Nintendo. They want to sell two systems, not hurt 3DS sales to increase Wii U sales.

Nintendo's problem is that they didn't do a good job of communicating the value of Wii U. While I thoroughly enjoy my Wii U, I can admit that. It serves my purposes as someone who doesn't play a lot of video games. For everyone else, it's unacceptably inadequate. Even if one could play 3DS games via Wii U, the Wii U part of the console would still be lacking. A console should be able to stand on its own merits, not on the shoulders of another. If Nintendo ever wanted to introduce a 3DS Player, I would understand that more though I'm still convinced 3DS games would be significantly worse played on a TV/GamePad combo.

I'm not actually suggesting that Nintendo should have added a 3DS player the Wii U out of the gate, I'm was more venting that there are plenty ways to add value to the Wii U and Nintendo didn't really pursue any of them. Money was left on the table as they took the "good enough" approach once again. They banked so hard that we would all be blown away by a "tablet" controller that can operate like a handheld on your couch that they forgot to add or plan for a few things that seemed quite obvious to the rest of us.
-Like multi-touch. May not be a necessity, but it would certainly make certain things more intuitive when using a touch screen.
-Second game pad support. Nintendo didn't even consider the idea add it was one if the first things that everyone kinda got excited about.
-The Wii U could be a 3DS player and the Wii U already looks like a Wii, so maybe they should make a small side flap with an expansion port for a future accessory.
-Game pad remote for tv and cable is good and Nintendo thought it was "great" but it could have been so much more, same with the TVii service, it just didn't take the execution of the idea far enough, lots of room for completion to come in and trump you.
-multi tasking built in features like video chat & internet surfing while playing games our watching videos, or playing simple games the game pad while watching videos on the TV.

There are plenty of other examples of Nintendo picking the fruit long before it was ripe, and I'm sure that's a big reason the sour taste in a lot peoples mouths. The system just didn't turn out to be what most if is hoped it would, and on top of that it was slow, and Nintendo was being even slower to fix it. The system is half baked, poorly marketed & under supported.

A relaunch with a new design would be a good place to start. some software value adding could help (better remote app, upgrade TVii, support and advertise the VC, more entertainment apps, better bundles, eShop credit, unified accounts & a 3DS channel for demos and downloaded games), maybe even adding that 3DS card slot under the flap and pushing 3DS connectivity would garner some much needed attention.

[Ian Sane]

While I don't think poor marketing is the main cause of the Wii U's failure or that improved marketing will save it, I can say that Nintendo really botched it.  When the PS4 and XB1 were close to release a lot of the guys in my office were talking about it.  The Wii U came up and one of the guys who plays videogames asked "when is that coming out?"  The console had been out for a whole year and he didn't know it had been released but he damn well knew when the other consoles were coming out.  My brother also had no idea the Wii U had come out when I was talking about it with him a few months ago.  He got noticeably confused in what I was saying and stopped me to say "Wait.  Is this thing already out?"

[Adrock]

I would probably rank their marketing fourth.

1. Lack of consistent first party titles
2. Poor third party relationships
3. Unfinished system software
4. Inadequate/near-nonexistent marketing

I include the name and console design in marketing because if Nintendo did any of that correctly, this wouldn't be as much of an issue. At the very least people should know it's new. For the people who did, almost everything else about it viewed in a mostly unpleasant light. The lineup wasn't terrible, just thin. The menus ran slow as **** and was missing touted features like TVii. Nintendo has launched far too many consoles and handhelds not to at least get the basics right.

[Ceric]

I could agree with your list if it started with point 2.  Point 1 I think there first party games have been consistent.  If you meant scheduled poorly I still wouldn't put that at 1.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If #4 was done correctly, #2 might have been better.

If #2 was already better, then they would have had more material to do #4 correctly

So basically, if they had bothered to generate hype through proper marketing, 3rd parties probably wouldn't have been so hesitant to support the system, and then the 1st party game drought wouldn't have been as noticeable and we would have been so busy playing games, that the incomplete apps would have been more forgivable.

Good Job Nintendo.

[Adrock]

On Nintendo's platforms, there's nothing more important than their own software. It's pretty inexcusable to have almost nothing between launch and Pikmin 3. Nintendo needs to be more consistent in scheduling releases. Game and Wario is not going to get it done. And really, neither is Pikmin 3. Ideally, they should have at least one big title on both console and handheld per quarter. If they can't handle that, expand and fix it.

I ranked marketing fourth because if Nintendo did at least the bare minimum they would have at least had good word of mouth. They did less than that which is sad and mind-boggling. I like Wii U and it was still hard to recommend it to someone on the fence. It's a good console with plenty of potential, but potential is abstract; you can't play with potential. I would tell people they could afford to wait. If they did, a lot of things improved, not to the point where they should be, but certainly much better than at launch.

[Ian Sane]

I think it would be easier to describe what Nintendo did right with the Wii U.

Um... many of their first party games turned out to be good.  Now I think the choice of what games to make (too many casual party games, too many 2D platformers, too many games that seemingly have 3DS equivalents thus making it so Nintendo fans don't even need a Wii U to get their fix) was largely idiotic and they released games too infrequently.

They pretty much fucked up everything else.  The price was too high, the marketing sucks, the name is stupid and created confusion about the Wii U being a new system, the system was vastly underpowered and released a mere year before the competition lapped it, there is still typical Nintendo goofiness in online features, the VC is neglected and ignored, the interface is clunky, the controller has not been utilized in any meaningful way, the third party support sucks, Nintendo seemingly abandoned the Wii for the last two years of its life and killed any momentum they had and then followed that up with software droughts on the Wii U because they didn't realize HD games take more resources and time to make even though they POINTED THAT OUT THEMSELVES YEARS AGO.  I swear it's a damn miracle the Wii U runs on electricity because Nintendo damn near fucked up everything else.

Nintendo has no idea why the Wii was successful so they tried to duplicate everything about it, good or bad, and unfortunately they were wrong in thinking the Wii U's controller gimmick would catch on like the Wii's.  It is like every shitty element that the Wii succeeded DESPITE of has been amplified.

[Eiksirf]

Wii was so successful because it was the Tickle Me Elmo, the Furby, the Rainbow Loom: the catchy thing that a large audience buys into for a little while. And then when it was time to move on, Nintendo missed the boat.

There was a huge audience for a little while, but it's gone now and so it's time to do the difficult: get PS and Xbox gamers back interested in a new Nintendo system.

Nintendo doesn't need third party games as badly as you'd think, those are already available elsewhere. They need people to take notice of what's good and unique on Wii U, but if people don't even know the system exists yet, they're not buying Mario, Luigi, Zelda or anything. They don't know about the tablet. They don't know enough to even care if it has multi-touch or backwards compatibility or a fancy home menu or robust online platform. All those things are important to some degree, but first people need a reason to care, and then Nintendo has to impress them beyond that once they buy in.